CITYHOOD STUDY FUNDS OK'D; COUNCIL ANTES $225,000 FOR VALLEY ANALYSIS.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to allocate $225,000 for work on a study that is the next step toward an election on creating a separate San Fernando Valley city.

The council also said it would fund $40,000 for a similar analysis in the harbor area.

With only central city Councilman Nate Holden objecting, the council voted 10-1 for the expenditures, which will pay about one-tenth of the budgeted costs of the special reorganization study to be done by the Local Agency Formation Commission. State and county funding will pay the rest.

Lingering council opposition to funding a study that could lead to a breakup was largely overcome by a provision that the funds could be used only to analyze the data, not to develop specific proposals for what a new city would look like.

The council is opposed to secession, but members said they were convinced the data analysis could benefit the city as a whole by identifying how and where Los Angeles spends its money, what services it gets in return and what property assets it owns.

Councilman Michael Feuer, whose district includes part of the Valley, said, ``Let the study proceed and let the data show what it will.''

Jeff Brain, president of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, said the funding put voters a step closer to being able to decide the issue, with an election anticipated in 2002. For the Valley to form its own city, a majority of voters citywide, as well as in the Valley, would have to approve.

LAFCO is selecting the consultants to perform the study, expected to take 1-1/2 to two years.

``We're pleased the City Council approved the money and recognized their obligation,'' Brain said, noting that 202,000 registered voters in the Valley signed the petition requesting the study. There were almost as many signers as there were voters in the last election, he pointed out.

``Clearly, there is a large representation of people who signed the petition and who want the study to go forward by LAFCO,'' he said.

LAFCO ultimately will use the information to determine whether a reorganization would be ``revenue neutral'' - meaning the remainder of Los Angeles would not suffer financially by creating a new city from part of it.

Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton, the council's top adviser, said an objective study of the data ``can serve the entire city.''

He predicted some of the work will be straightforward, such as determining the location and value of assets like libraries, while other answers will be more difficult to come up with, such as figuring out the value of police officers who can move in and out of areas.

Holden, the lone opponent, called the allocation a waste of taxpayers' dollars.